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James Hansen and Coalition to Protest Congressional Power Plant

WASHINGTON - In a
public service announcement released today, Dr. James Hansen, one of
the world's leading climate scientists, calls on Americans to join him
on March 2nd at the Capitol Power Plant in the largest display of civil
disobedience in U.S. history to demand national action on global
warming (see: http://vimeo.com/3268481).

Human rights organization Global Exchange and youth climate activists
will board a train in San Francisco to join a national coalition of
more than 70 environmental, public health, labor, social justice,
faith-based and other advocacy groups to engage in civil disobedience
at the Capitol Power Plant in Washington D.C. on the afternoon of March
2, 2009. The Capitol Climate Action (CCA), the largest mass
mobilization on global warming in the country's history, reflects the
growing public demand for bold action to address the climate and energy
crises.

"It's time to take a stand on global warming," Dr. Hansen says in the
video. "We want to send a message to Congress and the President that we
want them to take the actions that are needed to preserve climate for
young people and future generations and all life on earth."

The train trip will originate from California and we invite reporters
to board the train at any of its stops along the route to learn more
from activists and experts onboard or even take part in CCA. Stops
include, but are not limited to: Emeryville, CA; Sacramento, CA; Salt
Lake City, NV; Denver, CO; Kansas City, KS; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH;
and Pittsburgh, PA. Contact us soon to get discounts and so that we
can link you up with the group during the train trip.

"Expanding coal use is the biggest single threat to our climate and
that is why we are focusing on the coal plant that heats the U.S.
Capitol," says Ted Lewis, who directs Global Exchange's human rights
programs. "But we also recognize that stopping climate change requires
us to change many things including the ways we travel. Expanded public
transit and trains are essential to mobility in a green future. That is
why we are taking the train to D.C."

Some 2,000 people from across the country are expected to join Dr.
Hansen at Congress's own coal-fired power plant in Southeast
Washington, D.C. The diversity of groups involved in the action (see: www.capitolclimateaction.org),
reflects the number of people affected by global warming. Of all the
fossil fuels, coal is the single biggest contributor to global warming.
Burning coal cuts short at least 24,000 lives in the U.S. annually,
inflicts catastrophic damage to the landscape and water supplies, and
jeopardizes the lives of miners. Furthermore, the coal ash spill in
Tennessee makes it clear that there is no adequate means of safely
storing coal combustion waste.

"Young people voted and volunteered in record numbers in the 2008
election to elect candidates they believed would put their future
first," says Melissa Tamargo, a high school student from Stockton,
California. "As young person, I want an end to our nation's reliance on
dirty energy sources and strides taken towards a clean energy economy."

A recent University of Massachusetts study found investing in clean
energy projects like wind power and mass transit creates three-to-four
times more jobs than the same expenditure on the coal industry. The
wind power sector has grown to employ more Americans than coal mining
as demand for clean energy has jumped over the past decade.

THE LAST FIREWALL AGAINST THE LIES

Independent media has become the last firewall against government and corporate lies. Yet, with frightening regularity, independent media sources are losing funding, closing down or being blacked out by Google and Facebook. Never before has independent media been more endangered. If you believe in Common Dreams, if you believe in people-powered independent media, please support our critical Winter campaign now and help us fight—with truths—against the lies that would smother our democracy. Please help keep Common Dreams alive and growing.

Further

Americans spent President's Day wishing we had one, honoring the 44 former actual ones we did have along with a few fictional contenders - Vote For Lisa Simpson! - and marching to protest the sick hollow shell of a human being now occupying a once-lofty office. Meanwhile, after just one ugly, tattered, inept, felonious year in office, The Cheeto has already been declared by 170 political pundits the worst president in history. What a surprise. Said no one ever.